I am going to transfer ownership of Malaysia Today to a group of people and allow them to decide how the site is to be run. They will have full authority to decide on the form and function of Malaysia Today. After that Malaysia Today will be out of my hands.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
There are those who accuse Malaysia Today of spinning. I suppose it all depends on your interpretation of what a spin is and whether spin means lying, distorting the truth, or spy-war. Spinning means different things to different people. I always jokingly tell people that Malaysia Today does not spin. Malaysia Today just tells our version of the truth.
After all, what is truth? Truth is different things to different people. Some say Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Others say he died on the cross. Yet others say that both these ‘truths’ are in fact false and the real truth is that Jesus was merely a Prophet and that there are 25 such Prophets mentioned by name in the Quran while there were 124,000 Prophets in all since the beginning of time. To these people, the truth is that Muhammad was the last of the Prophets but others say that this is false and that the last Prophet was actually Jesus Christ.
Is one or the other lying? Those who say that Jesus was the Son of God or that he died on the cross are lying in the eyes of those who say that Muhammad was the last Prophet. And those who swear that Muhammad was the last Prophet are also lying to those who view Jesus as the Son of God and believe that he died on the cross.
Actually, it is not about lying at all. Neither side is lying. They say what they say with full belief and commitment. They believe what they say to be the truth. And there are many amongst them who will kill or die to defend what they believe to be the truth.
Who are we to say whether the Christians are lying or whether the Muslims are the ones who are lying instead? It all depends on your belief and ultimately only God would know which side is right. Christians would certainly consider Muslims, if not lying, at the very minimum are misguided or misinformed. And the same would apply when Muslims evaluate the Christian belief, which they would consider equally misguided or misinformed.
So, just like in the example of religion, spinning would all depend on which side of the political divide you happen to stand on. One man’s spin would be another man’s gospel.
When I whack Malays and Muslims, those who hate Malays and/or Islam would cheer me on and equate me to Mandela and Gandhi both rolled into one. And there are many such people in Malaysia Today. Of course, the Malays/Muslims in turn view me as a traitor to my race and an apostate to my religion both rolled into one.
When I whack Chinese or Indians, then these same people who earlier sang my praises now consider me a sell-out, a Trojan Horse, someone who is promoting a secret Umno agenda, maybe it’s not really me writing those articles after all but someone else writing them in my name, I have changed, it must be that life in exile has made me mad, I am so grumpy nowadays, and so on and so forth.
Yes, one man’s spin is another man’s gospel. The only thing we need remember is that we can’t please everyone. When we say white those who like black will not agree. And when we say black the white supporters get upset. And when we mix black and white and come out with grey then both sides would not be happy while those who like grey will suddenly come out in support.
Even a simple thing like that can become complicating. And they purposely go looking for faults so that they can whack you. For example, the instant they can’t log in to the site they will write long essays in their blogs accusing Malaysia Today of banning readers and of censoring postings. They also list down the names of others who, according to them, have been banned as well.
Of course, when we investigate, we find it is not true. None of them were banned. But the allegation has been made and suddenly Malaysia Today is now an Umno website and the Administrators are probably Special Branch officers from Bukit Aman.
I wrote about this before but maybe it is time to repeat what I said in the past. People scream about freedom of expression. Sure, Malaysia Today is trying its best to allow that. In fact, we are not just allowing it, we are trying to promote and encourage it.
But many forget that Malaysia Today, although it can now be considered ‘public property’, still has an owner. And you are allowed in to Malaysia Today as a guest and at your request. But the owner has the final say about what goes on in his domain, which is his home.
You no doubt have a right to express yourself. But in someone’s home you must treat that right as a privilege. You can’t demand privileges to be transformed to rights just because that is how you like it.
For example, in my own home, I can smoke my cigars or pipe when I am writing. But when I am on the computer doing my work in my friend’s home I do not smoke in his/her home. Even if my friend smokes I do not automatically light up. I wait until he or she starts smoking and then I ask whether he/she minds if I too smoke. If not I walk outside and smoke in the garden or on the veranda.
Sure, smoking is my right. I do that in my own home. Why can’t I also do that in your home? Why are you denying me my right? Well, because it is not a right but a privilege.
I know what you are going to say now. You can’t compare smoking with commenting in Malaysia Today. Smoking has issues of health attached to it. Well, commenting in Malaysia Today is also about my health. I was detained under the Internal Security Act in September last year for various ‘crimes’, one of them related to comments in Malaysia Today. So, comments can also be detrimental to my health -- my mental health when I am under solitary confinement and 'tortured' with many hours of religious sermons from the JAKIM people dressed in white robes and skullcaps. And what you comment determines my mental health. So I can ban what you comment just like you can ban me smoking my cigars and pipe in your house.
Your house, your right. My house, my right. Get it?
Let’s look at another scenario. Say you are a member of Selangor Club, Lake Club, the National Press Club, or whatever. All clubs have rules such as dress code and code of conduct. They can disallow you entry into the club if you wear slippers or collarless T-shirts. If you quarrel with other members or shout four-letter words at the top of your voice they can suspend you or sack you from the club.
No doubt you are a paying member. You could even be a committee member of the club. But there are rights and there are privileges. And you do not have the right to do certain things considered in breach of the club rules or else your membership privileges will be withdrawn. In your own home you can walk around naked and curse your mother’s pussy and nobody cares.
Anyway, I am going to solve this once and for all. It is time we settled his matter because the issue appears to crop up time and again. I am going to transfer ownership of Malaysia Today to a group of people and allow them to decide how the site is to be run. They will have full authority to decide on the form and function of Malaysia Today. After that Malaysia Today will be out of my hands. Let Malaysia Today become a fully-fledged public domain run by members of the public for members of the public. I shall not interfere in the management of Malaysia Today.
I shall of course continue writing articles for my columns until such time they decide they have had enough of me and give me my walking papers. Malaysia Today will cease to be Raja Petra and Raja Petra will cease to be Malaysia Today. I will be reduced to merely a contributor or columnist of Malaysia Today and no longer its owner or manager. Then you all can do what you like.
Okay, back to the issue of spinning. Anwar Ibrahim has said that Chin Peng should be allowed to return to Malaysia. Now, the mainstream media is going to spin this issue over the next few days. But why do they not call it spinning? And why if we counter what they say it is declared spinning?
So what if Malaysia Today spins? What’s wrong with that? I make no excuses or apologies for that. When we are attacked we need to defend ourselves the best way we can. All is fair in love and war.
Take the Rosmah Perempuan Puaka series of videotapes as an example. Umno has embarked on a campaign to run down those opposed to the government by attacking their families. And the mainstream media has been instructed to portray Rosmah as a loving mother who travels all over the country giving speeches about family values and how to raise children and so on.
Then they play up stories about Anwar Ibrahim buggering every handsome young man within three feet of him, about Elizabeth Wong being a porn star, about the son of Raja Petra being a gang leader and hired killer. They have even set up special websites about my family and me. My daughter is portrayed as a Bohsia (slut) and my wife as a closet Christian. They say she still goes to church and that I also have converted to Christianity and follow her to church. They even say that my wife ‘entertains’ other men in our home when I am ‘away’ in Kamunting.
I suppose the Special Branch had been monitoring my house when I was in Kamunting and when Bernard (Zorro) slept at my house they jumped at the opportunity to expose this ‘sex scandal’ involving my wife. And when Bernard came to Kamunting the next day to see me and joked that since I am inside he is now dating my wife, the hidden microphones in Kamunting picked that up as well. Then, when I was released, Azmi Sharom, during a candlelight vigil in Petaling Jaya, said in front of 200-300 people, “Welcome home Pete. Unfortunately, now that you are home, I won’t be able to spend time with your wife any longer.” Invariably, the Special Branch records all speeches made at the candlelight vigils in Petaling Jaya and this is even more ammunition to use against me.
Anyway, the bottom line is, I am not in public office and if they want to use all this ‘material’ to run down my family it does not perturb me one bit. I am not saying that two wrongs make a right. But when they expand the boundaries of what is kosher, and when families now become fair game, then they should not grumble when I also play by the rules that they have established. I can be as dirty as they are. In fact, I can be even dirtier.
Now they are going to attack Anwar for his statement on Chin Peng. He is going to be painted as a traitor to the Malay race. They are even going to get the armed forces people to make statements condemning Anwar. Their objective is to attempt to turn the Malays against Anwar, in particular the Malays in the opposition -- the Umno Malays will not support Anwar anyway even if he makes a statement saying that he will defend the New Economic Policy till the last drop of his blood.
So, in short, what will Umno and the mainstream media do? They will spin. And how, therefore, do we fight back? Well, we also need to spin. A spin versus a spin. Do we have any other options? What alternatives are there open to us?
We must note that the Emergency was from 1948 to 1960. An estimated 5,000 people died, half of them armed forces personnel. But not all were Malays. Many were Mat Sallehs from UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, etc. There were Ghurkhas who died as well.
Because of this Chin Peng can’t be allowed to return to Malaysia and Anwar Ibrahim is a traitor to the Malay race for suggesting he be allowed to return. And the other traitor who wants Chin Peng to be allowed to return is Zaid Ibrahim who yesterday joined PKR. But Chin Peng was not the only CPM leader. There were many others in the CPM hierarchy, Malays included. And they were allowed to return. And they too carried arms and shot people and killed Malaysians. Why were they allowed to return when they are as guilty as Chin Peng?
This is how we need to counter-spin in reply to the Anwar and Zaid are traitors to the Malay race argument.
What about the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation from 1963 to 1966? Many Malaysians as well as Mat Sallehs were also killed in this Konfrontasi with Indonesia. But the government has never raised this issue to remind Malaysians how dangerous and cruel the Indonesians were.
Indonesia wanted to bring about the destruction of Malaysia. They said so openly. They sent their military into our territory to kill many of our soldiers. Aren’t the Malays and military personnel upset about this as well? How do they propose we punish Indonesia the way we are punishing the CPM?
If you want to spin, then do it intelligently. And if you want to spin then expect us to counter-spin. And when we use the same tactics you use to attack us to attack you in return, do not cry foul. You established the rules. We are just playing by your rules. And when you spin that our family members are hired killers and sluts then expect us to hit you back with similar responses.
For years we have had to endure personal attacks. Even as far back as 1999 they were spinning stories about Nurul Izzah and the ‘affair’ she was having with Ezam Mohd Nor, the then PKR youth leader. Now that Ezam has joined Umno and is travelling the country to attack Anwar they have, of course, stopped this spin. If not we would still be hearing about the so-called sex scandal between Nurul Izzah and Ezam.
I repeat, I am not saying two wrongs make a right. But in a war we use the best weapon we can get our hands on. And we have to defend ourselves the best way we can when under attack. And sometimes the best form of defence is to attack. So expect us to attack whenever we can. And what is considered a spin to one person could be viewed as the gospel to another.
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